A&B ALLOWED TO STEAL MAUI FARMS WATER
MauiTimes.com
Hawai`i Governor David Ige announced that he would sign House Bill 2501
“with reservations,” which means Alexander & Baldwin (A&B) can continue its century-old practice of diverting East Maui water....
This is despite A&B’s announcement earlier this year that they would close the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar plantation on Maui.
Reaction to the announcement from environmentalists was swift and brutal.
“Governor Ige failed to achieve the right balance in this situation,” said Marti Townsend, Director for the Sierra Club of Hawai`i, in a June 27 news release.
“His decision unnecessarily favors profit-driven water diversions above the best interests of the public.
Our laws are written to ensure that our water is held in trust for everyone’s benefit. The Ige Administration should follow those laws, not change them to benefit those that divert public water for private gain, while harming the people and our environment.”
In her news release, Townsend also noted that a court ruled in January that the state Department of Land and Natural Resources “had improperly ‘held over’ A&B’s permits for nearly 3 decades in violation of state law....”
